Complacency, Apathy: An Acceptable Way To Live?

I was driving through Austin in rush hour, listening to my satellite radio, when one of my favorite songs from the 1960s came on; I was a kid in the 1960s, so the '60s protest songs were part of my childhood.  I remember listening to my transistor radio at night, falling asleep to the music of Woodstock, feeling ill, even at 10 years old, as we watched the nightly news spell out the casualty reports.

Everything I knew as a child was colored by the Vietnam War, the deaths of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.  My dad was in charge of desegregating the schools in Grand Rapids, Michigan, so I grew up watching my dad fight for the rights of all races to have quality education without restriction.  My parents were deeply political and nationalistic, supporters of the troops in Vietnam, so they were a bit concerned when their oldest child was singing war protest songs, but they let me make up my own mind.

In high school, the War was over and I went to college with soldiers recently returned from the fighting, some wounded physically, almost all wounded emotionally and mentally.  There were no parades or cheering crowds as they came off the planes bringing them home; instead, they were pelted with rotten tomatoes and eggs.  They had to hide their service, instead of wearing it proudly as they do today.  

I grew up during a time of protest and social consciousness - REAL social consciousness.  People were truly concerned about the way the environment was being impacted, so we went from throwing trash out the car windows to it becoming illegal.  Racial and gender equality, a truly needed change, was pushed through, to more or less success.  Gone were white-only bathrooms, drinking fountains and sitting at the back of the bus; whether or not the changes were enough are still being debated.  And a war was ended because enough people were brave enough to stand up and say, "No more."

From this, because of this and in spite of this, I became a strictly neutral person, not because I don't care but because I found my own solution and do my best to make sure others, on an individual basis, hear about it.  So this is definitely not about politics or political opinions on who is at fault or who has the right idea.

I was listening to this war protest song, wondering where all that has gone.  No one would ever bravely stand in front of a line of soldiers with a flower.  No one would stand in front of a tank, saying, "no more."  No one really cares any more.  I talk to people every day who say, "It doesn't impact my backyard, so I really don't care," or "I don't watch the news any more because it's too depressing."  They'd rather watch another hour of "reality" tv, watching trashy women making their lives even trashier and worshiping "celebrities" who are famous for no reason other than making train wrecks of their lives.

Has the world become more complacent or apathetic?  What's the difference?  Regardless of the definition, to me, complacency is looking at the world and accepting it as it is, not wishing to cause a fuss, just letting things go on because it doesn't impact you.  Apathy is looking at the world and saying, "I hate what's going on in the world but I can't do anything about it, so I'll go over here so I can't see it."  It's the difference between "What bombing" and "Oh, a bombing?  Really?  How sad?  When does Idol start?"

Even modern-day protests are wimpy.  Major US cities are allowing the KKK to march through the streets and maybe 10 people show up to protest.  "Christian" groups, supposedly "God-fearing" people who are driven by hate and not love, protest at the funerals of people killed by random acts of violence, saying it was the fault of the person killed and no one stops them.

The real issues are being ignored because it's too much fuss.  It's easier and better to watch a news story about the kid who won the local spelling bee than taking a hard look at what's going on in Africa.  Why?  Because "those" people don't look like us, don't live like us and are far away.  Over 49 million Americans are living in poverty and more than 47 million go to bed hungry, despite working 50+ hours a week at minimum-wage jobs.  Yet it’s almost impossible to get news coverage on those numbers because no one cares – “I have enough to eat and so does my family.  They’re obviously not working hard enough.”

Regardless of your political, religious, social or gender leaning, it’s time we all take a long hard look at ourselves and start standing for something.  As an individual, what do you care about, other than your immediate world?  As an individual, when was the last time you did something good for someone unrelated to you, who could do nothing for you (and I’m not talking about handing a dollar to the guy standing at the stop light with a sign, begging for money)?  As an individual, have you slid into complacency or apathy?

Come on.  It’s time.